Paris considering AI-assisted Olympics Games’ surveillance

PARIS—French government plans to trial surveillance cameras upgraded with artificial intelligence at the 2024 Olympics have opponents fuming at what they say is unnecessary and dangerous security overreach.

While the government says such systems are needed to manage millionsstrong crowds and spot potential dangers, critics see the draft law as a gift to French industry at the cost of vital civil liberties.

Last week, around 40 mostly left-leaning members of the European Parliament warned in an open letter to French lawmakers that the plan “creates a surveillance precedent never before seen in Europe”, daily Le Monde reported.

Debates kicked off late Monday in the National Assembly, France’s lower parliamentary chamber, with discussions to continue Friday.

Even before the debates started, MPs had already filed 770 amendments to the government’s wide-ranging Olympics security bill, many aimed at its Article Seven.

That section provides for video recorded by existing surveillance systems or new ones -- including drone-mounted cameras -- to be “processed by algorithms”.

Artificial intelligence software would “detect in real time pre-determined events likely to pose or reveal a risk” of “terrorist acts or serious breaches of security”, such as unusual crowd movements or abandoned bags.

Systems would then signal the events to police or other security services, who could decide on a response.

The government is at pains to reassure that the smart camera tests would not process biometric data and especially not resort to facial recognition, technologies the French public is wary of applying too broadly.

AFP A drone flies over Saint-Cloud, as the Eiffel Tower is seen in Paris. An attack during the Paris Olympics using drones is a scenario that is being taken into account by the French authorities, who have promised an “unparalleled” defence system. In the past several years, the use of drones sold for civilian purposes has been diverted by armed or criminal groups to carry out attacks.